New rules on deprivation of citizenship in Norway

An amendment to the Norwegian Citizenship Act of 2005 was adopted this spring, opening up for the deprivation of citizenship for persons convicted of certain serious crimes.

The new §26a will enter into force on 1 January 2019. It stipulates that a person that has shown behavior seriously to the detriment of Norway’s vital interests may lose his or her Norwegian citizenship by court judgment, if he has been convicted of a crime in Chapters 16, 17 and 18 of the Norwegian Penal Code. Chapter 16 deals with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; chapter 17 deals with violations of Norway’s autonomy and other fundamental national interests; and chapter 18 deals with terrorist and terrorist-related acts. Other conditions are that the person must be over the age of 18 when committing the acts, and also holds another citizenship. In other words, the person should not be at risk of becoming stateless.

Norway adheres to the single citizenship principle, and dual citizenship is only exceptionally permitted. Thus, the potential number of such deprivation cases is as of now very limited. However, a government proposal to abolish this principle was delivered to the legislature on 24 August (see also here for GLOBALCIT news item of May 2018). The new deprivation rules might therefore soon take full effect.